Back To Animal Junction
by JackFrost23
Summary: Chris Kratt is being plagued with nightmares. Nightmares of Animal Junction. Animal Junction it turns out is a living place and its dying. Chris and his older brother Martin, are the key to its survival. Can the brothers and their team save Animal Junction or will the Junction be lost to the darkness forever?
1. Nightmares

Chris Kratt was dreaming.

He was dreaming of the Creature Adventures, that he and his older brother, Martin had in the past.

There had been a lot of them.

Only one of them had been a complete mystery though.

The adventure had led them to a place called Animal Junction.

The dream started turning dark.

In the dream turned nightmare, Chris heard someone crying out for help.

He was in Animal Junction, but it wasn't as bright as it had been when he and Martin visited continuously.

The cry came again. This time he heard his and Martin's name being called.

Dream Chris opened his mouth but something came up behind him.

Dream Chris felt a hand cover his mouth. Then he heard the voice.

_"Animal Junction is dead"_

An evil laughter followed.

Chris woke up screaming.

"Chris?" A voice from the darkened bedroom asked

Chris fumbled for the light on the night stand and turned it on.

Martin Kratt stood in the doorway. Chris could see the worry on his brother's face.

"Martin, we have to go back to Animal Junction"

Martin looked at his brother still looking worried.

Martin walked into the room.

Animal Junction had affected them somehow. They started noticing it when everyone else around them aged at a normal pace. The brothers however started aging slower. They also stopped growing.

It was only after they left Animal Junction, they started aging at a semi normal pace.

The brothers were in their early thirties and they knew that; to every one else they looked to be in their twenties.

So they took advantage of this and put together a small team of young adults so they could continue their Animal Adventures.

They didn't tell their team mates their real ages.

Martin shook his head.  
"Why?" Martin asked.  
Chris told him of his dream.

After hearing about Chris's dream, Martin agreed.

There was just one problem about going back to Animal Junction though.

It was the real reason they had left the Junction too.

The Darkness.


	2. Explanations

The next morning the Kratt brothers called a team meeting.

Both brothers were nervous. They were about to tell their friends something (they should have told them when they first met) that only their parents and a well trusted doctor knew.

The brothers told their three friends everything about their past Animal Adventures and all the way up to Animal Junction.

Here they paused their story.

Aviva, Koki and Jimmy Z looked at the brothers.

They were confused. The brothers story made no sense. Seeing that the brothers were in their early twenties.

Aviva spoke first.

"Your story makes no sense. You have been Creature Adventuring since you were in your twenties. Aren't you guys in your twenties?"

Martin smirked.

Chris tried to keep himself from laughing.

Jimmy thought about what Aviva was trying to and failing to say. He quickly realized something.

"You guys are older than you look, aren't you?" He asked.

The two girls burst out laughing. They only stopped when they saw that the brothers weren't laughing.

"No way" Aviva said.

"Wait so you guys are actually older than you look?" Koki asked

Chris nodded and Martin sighed.

"Just how old are you and why do you look to only be in your twenties?" Aviva asked

"I am 30 years old but look to be 23 years of age. Martin is 34 years old but like me he looks to be 27 years of age."

Here Chris stopped and Martin took over.

"Before we continue our story, you have to promise us, you won't tell anyone this" Martin said seriously.

The others, including Chris, looked at the blondish hair man. Martin was serious. They knew he could be when he wanted to, but it was rare.

"Ok Martin we promise" Aviva said.

The brothers told them about their adventures in Animal Junction with a friendly talking Sifaka lemur named Zoboomafoo.

"He could talk?"

Chris nodded.

"He was funny and loved to learn about the animals that would visit" Martin said.

But what does Animal Junction have to do with you looking younger than you actually are?"

"If I remember what Zoboo said, Animal Junction was a living place but operated outside normal time. The longer we visited the Junction, the slower we aged. After deciding it was time move forward, and stopped going to the Junction, we started aging at a semi normal pace" Chris said.

"When did you noticed the change?" Jimmy asked

Martin looked at Chris and Chris looked at Martin. They didn't want to tell their friends but it was unavoidable because the brothers burst out laughing.

"We didn't noticed the change until we visited with our mom while we were adventuring in the area. Mom noticed first" Martin said as his face turned bright red.

They had been oblivious of the change. They didn't even noticed it until their mother had pointed it out to them.

The girls just smiled, knowingly.

"Thanks for telling us this but what was the point of it?" Jimmy Z asked

Chris told them of his nightmare.

"That's why we told you our story. We need your help. Even though Zoboo told us that Animal Junction was a living place, and like most living things it too can feel what we humans feel. In all essence, Animal Junction is a person. She needs human interaction, she needs to feel loved. With out those things she starts dying. According to my dream, the Junction is dying. We are needed back at Animal Junction" Chris explained

They all stared at Chris.

There was a moment of silence.

Then Martin was hit with a thought. It was more than a thought, it was a mental note. A note he had forgotten to pass on.

"Chris, I know why the Junction is dying. On our way back to mom, I made a mental note to tell our animal helpers what the Junction actually was, I forgot to pass it on" Martin admitted.

"Animal helpers?"

"They are like our Wild Kratt Kids. Their names are Amy and Jackie."

Jimmy decided it was time make their way to the Junction.

Jimmy needed to ask where the Junction was.

"So Kratts where exactly is Animal Junction?"


	3. Where is Animal Junction

The brothers never admitted to actually knowing where the Junction was.

There were several reasons, why this was. The main reason they never told anyone the location of the Junction was because the brothers themselves didn't know the exact location.

On that first adventure they had been led by their soon to be lemur friend at the time.

"Eh guys?" Jimmy asked

"We don't know where Animal Junction actually is Jimmy" Chris finally admitted.

"I think its in Africa somewhere. There were some good surfing areas" Martin said.

"Martin we were hiking in the Jersey woods that day" Chris reminded his slowly aging old brother.

Martin blushed.

"Oh right" Martin said.

While the team was thinking, their ship started flying by itself.


	4. Homeward Bound

Jimmy Z felt it first.

The pilot in him felt the ship shift.

"Guys"

He was ignored.

He spoke a little louder.

"GUYS!"

This time he caught Chris's attention.

"What Jimmy?" Chris asked

"The ship is flying by itself and the auto pilot isn't on. We were in hover mode"

The four looked at Jimmy and they ran for the flight deck.

Jimmy reached the controls first. The Tortuga wouldn't respond to any of his commands.

"So who is up for a crazy flight to who knows where?" Jimmy Z asked.

His four teammates stared at him.

"What?" Martin asked Jimmy.

Jimmy was at a lost of what to tell Martin but he was saved by another shift of the turtle ship.\

They were landing.

The brothers looked out the window.

"The Woodlands of New Jersey?" Chris said in shock.

"Home?" Martin said.

A few minutes later the ship landed.

Meanwhile...

Animal Junction was dying. There hadn't been any human visitors since the Kratt Brothers.

But everyday almost like clock work, a lemur bounced through the open window. The lemur was aware that the place he called his second home was dying.

The lemur bounced over to the empty snack machine. His memories of his human friends were always fresh in his mind.

The lights dimmed some more and little lemur felt dread.

_Where were the Kratt Brothers?_


	5. Nightmare number 2

_The little lemur felt another presence. It was cold and it smelled weird._

_Some of the lights flickered and the lemur could hear laughter. This laughter wasn't like the ones he shared with Chris and Martin though._

_This laugh was filled with evil, the bad guy from a scary movie he once watched with Chris and Martin._

_Chris? Martin?_

Chris Kratt once again woke up screaming.

The team had decided to spend the day with Mr. and Mrs. Kratt. The brothers hadn't seen them for a while. They had ended up staying the night as well.

The lights turned on in the hallway.

"Chris" Martin asked

_Martin must have told mom to go back to sleep_. Chris thought as his brother walked into the room.

Just like his own bedroom in the Kratt house, Chris's bedroom had been left just the way it was when he had left for college.

Their friends had woken up too, because Aviva, Koki, and Jimmy followed Martin into Chris's room.

"Martin, Zoboo is in trouble. We are needed at Animal Junction" Chris told brother as he tried to get out of bed.

"Hold on Chris. What are you talking about?" Martin asked

Chris told him and their friends of his nightmare.

"Martin he's calling for us" Chris told Martin.

Martin felt his heartbreak, when he saw the tears on Chris's face.

"Ok Chris. We leave first thing in the morning" Martin said.

Morning couldn't come soon enough for the team.

Chris who was still pale and looking sickly from his nightmare, had to tell his mother he was fine and that he needed to go on this hike.

Mrs. Kratt gave in and Chris followed the rest of his team to Mrs. Kratt's car and climbed in.

"So where are we going guys?" Aviva asked

"The Woodland Park" Chris said.

The rest of ride was silent.

10 minutes later the Wild Kratts team found themselves at the park Chris spoke about.

Once out of the Car, the team started walking into the woods.

No one knew, not even the brothers, how different this hike would be compared to all the others the brothers had been on.

Nor did the team know what exactly they walking into.


	6. Into the Woods

**Author's Note: In this chapter there is a strong description of vomit.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the Plot and my own character**

* * *

The Woods seemed more sinister to Chris Kratt than he cared to admit. The atmosphere around him was suffocating and claustrophobic.

Chris was walking slower than his brother and their friends.

Their wooded surroundings were silent. There was nothing. No wind, no animals and there was no sound of what so ever.

There was a sense of foreboding coming.

The younger Kratt brother feared that he was the only one that could sense it.

_Or maybe it was just him._

A half hour later...

He had been so lost in his thoughts, he hadn't realized that Martin and the others had stopped to wait for him to catch up to them.

That is until he had almost ran into Martin himself.

"Whoa there brother!"

Startled badly by the sudden sound, Chris jumped about two feet high...literally.

Martin was also startled but it was only because of his brother's reaction to him speaking.

Chris stumbled after he tried to land on his feet.

His brother stared at him.

"Where were you CK?" asked a soft spoken voice.

It took him a second or two to place his friend's voice.

Aviva had spoken to him.

"What do you mean Aviva?" Chris asked.

Martin, Aviva, Jimmy Z, and Koki stared at him.

The only reason they had stopped was because Chris had stopped talking suddenly about an hour into their hike.

_Flashback_

_The group of five had entered the park around 6 am. The park ranger had let the group enter the park two hours before the park actually opened. _

_Chris Kratt was talking to himself out loud without meaning to. About a half -hour into the hike, he__ had said something about it still being dark in the woods for that time of year. _

_They had silently agreed with their friend/brother and pulled out their head lamps. _

_After that they could only catch the words , sinister, suffocating, claustrophobic, and foreboding._

_After that they couldn't hear anything. That's when Martin who had grown worried for his brother's safety and sanity, told them to stop._

_End of flashback_

Chris stared at them after Aviva told him what had happened.

Chris looked down at his watch, it was almost eight in the morning. Then he looked around. It was still dark and there was still a sense of foreboding. The only difference he could now hear was the noise that the birds, the trees and the wind were now making.

"Chris what is wrong with you today bro?" Martin demanded worriedly.

A pale faced Chris looked up at his taller older brother.

Chris stayed silent.

Knowing that he wasn't going to get an answer from his almost catatonic brother anytime soon, Martin sighed.

"Martin what do you want to do? We are about two hours into our hike." Koki said.

"I don't know" came a mutter from her friend.

Koki, Jimmy, and Aviva stared at each other.

Three out of the five were confused with what was going on around them.

Four out the five were worried for the youngest (but not the youngest) member of their team.

One out of the five was nearly catatonic and wasn't making any sense of anything.

There was silence for nearly thirty minutes.

"Marty? I don't feel so good"

Before anyone could say anything, Chris Kratt threw up.

This sick was different. It wasn't normal. There was no chunks of what Chris had eaten that morning or anything that had been digested the night before. There was no stomach fluids or bile, and/or liquid.

It wasn't brown, green, or even a yellowish color.

It was a solid black color. There was nothing in it. It was thick like mud.

They watched with sick fascination. If she wasn't so worried or some what grossed out, the scientist in Aviva would have grabbed a sample to be tested later to see what was in the black sick.

Martin didn't know what to do. This wasn't normal.

"Christ" Martin swore.

The black sick reacted.

After what seemed like forever, though in reality it was only seconds, Chris made a sound.


End file.
